My name is Brian Smothermon. I’ve spent whole working driving truck. It’s not an easy job always being gone on the road. A lot of sitting and unhealthy food options. It eventually has taken its toll on my health. I am typically a very independent and proud man but I have been humbled. I was forced into retirement due to health issues. March 2023, I went to the hospital for an outpatient surgery to get a catheter for Peritoneal dialysis. Due to the amount of fluid built up they could not preform the procedure. I was admitted and hemo dialysis started. 2 days later they did the surgery. Apparently I still had a lot of fluid as when they removed the breathing tube, the fluid rushed in and collapsed my lungs. I was in acute respiratory failure. They re-intubated me and sedate me. From there I went to ICU. Over the next 2 days they did some serious hemo dialysis to be able to wean me off the ventilator. Somewhere during all if this they did an Ecocardiogram, which told them I had had a heart attack within the recent past and had a ruptured artery, requiring a Stent. The Stent was place and I finally got to go home. I do dialysis at home nightly, which requires a lot of room for the many supplies. Before my FMLA ended, my company shut off my insurance. I have an obscene amout of medical bills, not to mention the price of all of my medications. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 🙏
